Playin' > Supplication > Playin' is a must hear, for the smoothness of the transitions, especially. How they go from a straight ahead 4/4 rhythm into the 7/8 of Supplication and make it sound seamless is beyond me. It's just fantastic stuff. So is the Help > Slip > Drums >Slip >Franklin's in the second set. Music Never is pretty darn hot as well, hard to believe it's under 6 minutes long, there's so much hotness. The rest of the show is pretty bland, however. This is not a jamfest like 7/18/76, for example, but the above sections are definitely worth a listen or three.

I will mostly agree with the sentiment that this is a largely pedestrian show for 1976. It’s not a really sub-par show by any means but of the 41 shows from 76, this probably ranks around 25th-30th.

That said, the Help> Slip> Franklins is an absolute beast. It’s technically Help> Slip> Drums> Slip> Franklins. The short composed section that provides the transition from the Slip jam to Franklins is the first 1:30 of the Franklins track here. I mentioned it because Jerry plays the Slipknot! licks, at a mind blowing speed, perfectly clean. There are no other examples like this. A couple in 1983 are seriously fast but not clean like this. As someone who has played guitar for 26 years and knows these licks well, I am unsure how he was physically able to pull it off. The dexterity and control while riding the edge of the cliff is supremely impressive.

That’s just the final 90 seconds. The Slip is awesome start to end. Loaded with fly by the seat of your pants dead. A triumphant Franklins is joyful and provides a great roundness to this version. So listen to this show or don’t, but absolutely do not skip the H>S>F!!!

Not the best sound .
Yes, it is interesting to here
A Playing>Supplication >Playing
but not enough to favorite this

We didn't hear a full SBD until 2012 and seems like the AUD wasn't well-traded either, though the Playin' into Supplication was common filler - in my trading circles anyway. They played Duke the night before. It's a looks-good-on-paper show and a must-hear-once (due to the Help>Slip>Franklins>MNS>Stella. Again, that's Franks into MNS into Stella...). Overall, though, it's an average '76 show, not in the top 20 [like, say 6/29 or 6/9].

First Set. Jer is very low in the mix and Bobby is basically missing until Sugaree when things get settled. Row Jimmy is not an engaging version in particular but Big River is major inventive - the old standby that always perked up Jer. Tennessee is sluggish - not my favorite from '76, with it's carousel solo, but I think some will dig this one. Playin' is solid but going into Supplication makes it interesting (they played it into Let it Grow when they were here in Tidewater in '86). Getting it there is a classic struggle and it's one of the many gotta-hear-onces. Back into Playin' it becomes very fluid and organic.

Second Set. Average stuff, slowly getting hotter, which really shows at Minglewood and a great Help on the Way. The post-Drums Slipknot! has an interesting, jazzy jam, making a half hour Help>Slip>Franks. The Franks is the actual meat and the show peak, going into Music Never Stopped. The rest is average with Around & Around slowed down and funkified.

1st Set:   C+
2nd Set: B
Overall = 3½ stars

Highlights:
Help on the Way>Slipknot!>Franklin's Tower>The Music Never Stopped - a helluva top-notch sequence

SOURCES: The AUD or Dave's 4 - which is patched with the AUD. The Playin' sandwich is on Spirit of '76.

The clearest 1976 recording I've heard yet, and an amazing show.

Take a good, hard look at Deadbase boys and girls. From 6.3.76 to 10.31.84, The Boyz did Lazy Lightening > Supplication 121 times in a row without exception. Woops, excuse me... Only ONE time did they precede Supp with anything but Lazy, and that time was 9.24.76. And man, what an improvisation!

I would love to have seen the interplay between The Guyz fighting it out for who's song was going to win the seque. You can clearly hear Bobby's Supplication rhythm gaining prominance while they're thumping it out at the end of the Playing Jam. So Phil and Jerry gave it up, and Bobby won the hand. :-)

Have you ever drawn a straight flush - all in a row - as you open the cards? I did once with Jack high diamonds. It's dumbfounding. I almost fell out of my chair. That's the way this feels. I just shake my head and laugh at how amazing the seque is into Supp. As a purely unique animal, it's what every trooblooo Head dreams of stumbling onto. And for the fact that they never did it again... they simply didn't need to. Thank god for this marvelous tape! The five stars is meant only for this magic moment in GD history.

The H/S/F is a good one. Drumz splitting up Slipknot in the second set makes for a nice change of routine in the rotation, but the rest of the show is only fair, or yes, "unremarkable." Add the H/S/F as filler to a few disks. Tatoo the Playing > Supp > Playing to the back of your skull !!!

To respond: Supplication was also performed 9/4/80 as as unsung lone entity.
William and Mary is a very high quality show. Playing in the Band sounds nice here as well as the H>S>F. The Other One was usually excellent in '76. Try 7/17.
Dark Star would have sounded nice in '76.

There are several quotes below that appear in the liner notes of Dave's Picks #4 - pretty cool indeed!!!!

First off my BIG years with listening to The Dead were 70-73. I joined the U.S. Navy and while stationed in Norfolk Va in '76 i happened to see posted somewhere on base...tickets/concerts "Grateful Dead..William & Mary". Remember this is 1976 (no internet etc). I said to myself "I thought they broke up years back"...grabbed a ticket and took off after work (ship was dry docked after being hit by rouge wave off Cape Hatteras Feb 76). Checked into hotel and saw my first complete Grateful Dead show.

Rarely do I see a show where no soundboard is available. In this case, no soundboard is needed, since this is a very listenable AUD recording.

I love Kieth Godchaux's piano work on this one. He leads the ban in several transitions and really displays his chops. Very cool.

Interesting, unique set list worthy of mention: Playin > Supplication > Playin and Help > Slip > Drums > Slip > Franklins > Music Never Stopped. WOW!

First, I was born in Portsmouth, moved to Ny till I was 5, back to Virginia Beach, then by the time I was 10, I was a local living in Williamsburg. I've been in the "Hall" many times for many different functions. Graduations (Lafayette High), basketball games and concerts (Stone Temple Pilots), and fell in love with the city as I grew up there. I miss it for sure, now that I have lived in Myrtle Beach for 15 years. By the time I left the "burg", I became an avid Grateful Dead fan, only by the upbringing of my ancestor heads. Lisening to this show not only sparks memories of being in the "Hall", but I was totaly blown out of my chair playing Big River. I scrolled down and proceded to play Minglewood, holly cow! Decided to peek at Music, no F-ing way! Last but least, U.S. Blues. I was going to soil my-self!
As a young dead head at 14, I definatly got my paws on a few bootlegs, Barton Hall '77, which happened to be 6 days after I was born, this show is up there in all qualities. As a matter of fact, this show musically, everyone is playing with a little "english" so to say. Jerry is adding in stuff, so is Keith, Bobby, Phil, everyone! Thats magical! Being a musician, I thought this show so far has my gratest approval! Enjoy what my hometown can and has offered all of us "Heads"....peace

I give this 5 stars for proformance inovation, and the quality takes me back for personal experience!

Too bad that this very good audience recording couldn't have been a Betty Board, because it blows almost all of the other 1976 shows completely out of the water in terms of the sheer energy and creativity associated with Help Slip Franklins and Playin in The Band/Supplication/Playin. The crowd is obviously electrified and that is reflected back and forth between band and crowd. If ever there was a real opportunity to make a matrix this would be one of them, if only the soundboard would surface from somewhere?! Then Charlie Miller would step in and bring out the vocals and guitar more and perhaps create one of the best shows of the mid seventies? I would say that this is worth the download for sure and that if you can toy with the sound yourself you can still come out sounding pretty damn good on a decent stereo with a little EQ. Other than the fact that this is not a super clean soundboard it really deserves 5 stars. The piano during HSF gets wild, improvisational and will likely elicit a fat smile...and as for the previous, tightwad reviewer " L. Rosley " who rated this show as 3 stars and as "Unremarkable" I have to say it... ( and usually I don't like to stomp on the opinions of others )... but ARE YOU DAFT?! This is not even remotely close to "Unremarkable." The band and the crowd are vibrant and other than not being a crystal clean soundboard, this is a topmost tier 1976 show.

** I found another supplication not after playin for reference 3-21-86...notably after '84

being 27 years old I can't coun this era as anything but history. Regardless, I have listened to the many years of Dead for a decade now! 1976 has made an impression as a spry and springy year. This show is heart melting and heart warming. The acid in the water is supper jazzy and even has some really cool break beats in the drumming. The playin-supp-playin is a genuine piece of musical brilliance. I have to say that I do like Donna and the TLEO is the best ever IMHO. Donna and Bob sing it like they mean it and the playing is soaring and swinging. The h-s-franks is freaking white hot... I had to explain to my girlfriend about how cool it is when the whole crowd cracks and sizzles like fireworks in the middle of an instrumental jam end of the world style. This show could STILL change your life. Must have!

Reviewer: vt-dead wrote:
- [5.0 out of 5 stars] - August 26, 2005
Subject: Great Show
wish the powers in Colonial Williamsburg and at the College of William And Mary had a more permissive view of the scene and let the dead continue to play this venue as the accoustics seem better than those in the circular Hampton Coliseum.

To supply an answer to this comment, I know why The Grateful Dead had to move to Hampton in 1979. They never played William and Mary Hall again after someone at the College made the mistake of scheduling the April 78 concert the same weekend as Parent's weekend!
Yes, The Hall has great acoustics, and it was a shame. What's even more of a shame to me anyway, was I grew up within walking distance of the Hall and didn't get turned onto the Grateful Dead until just after the April 78 show. I saw other concerts there, but never the Grateful Dead. Hampton 79 was my full initiation, and it was a good one.

MIND BLOWING FRANK > TMNS > STELLA!
I have never heard Keith kick this much ass!!! I have only been listening to 77 and 78 and 80s Franks & TMNS, but this combination blew my mind! Keith has more improv on this one Franklins than he does in the entire first half of 1978. It's glorious, especially the end and the beginning of TMNS. Keith also puts an absolutely beautiful cherry on top of the stella, right at the end of the song. DOWNLOAD NOW, pref. from a high quality source! Not To Be Missed!! Keith far surpasses Jerry at this show.

I'm streaming the show as I type, and just heard the transition from Slipknot! into Franklin's, where the band's not quite communicating with each other about where they should be (in Slipknot!? really?), hearing the crash and collapse as they try to figure out the ending, then Keith stepping in with his staccato "this - is - where - we - are - everyone - got - it?", then the crowd going nuts as they pull the first chords of Franklin's out of the train wreck. Awesome. :-)

I'm a huge Supplication fan, it's probably my favorite song the Dead's ever played. I could not wait to hear this version of it, Playin > Supp > Playin. What a treat.

It's pretty good - the transition is interesting as one other person noted. However, Supplication itself is left to be desired - there are numerous versions out there that are tighter, the guys are on queue, they hit their lyrical and musical notes. But it's bearable. Worth adding it to your library. I may not download the entire show (4 star quality out of 5), but I will download these songs for the archive.

It's interesting that Jerry didn't necessarily want to go into Supplication, and he started playing the main Playin' theme right at the end of the first Playin song. The transition is pretty good but they do kind of ramble for a few minutes until they get straight up into Supp.

This show isn't bad, but the shows from June and July are better. The Stella Blue sounds like their just trying to get it over with, and doesn't have much feeling. Playing into Supplication is interesting, probably the highlight.

Also, the sound is kind of flat, Phil is barely audible.

and the other shows from William and Mary Hall (11,300 seats)'73 and '78,are also in my opinion Legendary.I give it a 5 on performance alone ,and it is a good very listenable audience.

This one is a barn burner!! Back to school Dead. Nothing better to jazz up your JuJu. I have had this show and was waiting to burn it for a good listen. The listen occurred today on my drive home from work. 40 something graying Dead head with entirely too much responsibility. This a simply a killer, smokin, rippin show. Jerry and Bob are belaying and challenging with affection. Energy is really high. The tempo is level and mellow with ooodles of thunder juice from Phil, Bill and Mickey. The Playin-Sup-Playin to end the 1st set, represents everything that good in this life! No to mention the otherworldly sequence of Help-Slip-Drums-Slip-Franklins-Music!!!!!!! Stop the madness. This is the kind of inspired Dead that reminds us of those feelings of pure astonishment where we all agree that there really is nothing like a Grateful Dead show. The recording is great if you like audience shows...which I do. I need to give this show a 5 for the exploratory pots and pans kinda rowdy killer show this is. Peace.

wish the powers in Colonial Williamsburg and at the College of William And Mary had a more permissive view of the scene and let the dead continue to play this venue as the accoustics seem better than those in the circular Hampton Coliseum.

as stated playin->supp->playin is sweetness....to me the most interesting part of this show is the help->slip->drums->slip->franklins->music.....the slipknot is not quite as tight as some versions in the next year but it is in hyper drive....the final theme is at least twice as fast as ive ever heard it played...but they pull it off and slow down in time to land into a great franklins...then on to a nice 76 reading of music capped with a nice stella....what more do you need really....sound quality is really really good

Absoulutely amazing playin>supp!!! You must download this show!!!

there are too many great things about this show to mention point for point but the playin>supplication>playin is a great start. this rocks and is superb quality....